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Eddie Ayres: Danger Music

Eddie Ayres’ new book, Danger Music, tells a story of remarkable personal change and growth. It’s a memoir set against a backdrop of war and set to an eclectic soundtrack of Bach, Beethoven, Abba and the traditional music of Afghanistan.

Three years ago, Eddie Ayres was Emma Ayres – a seasoned adventurer, accomplished musician and much-loved broadcaster at ABC Classic FM. In 2014, during a period of personal struggle and depression, Emma quit her job and went to teach cello, viola and double bass at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul. It was during her year in Afghanistan that Emma realised she needed to become Eddie and, after returning to Australia, Emma undertook the transition to become a man.

In conversation with Jon Faine at the Wheeler Centre, Eddie will discuss his remarkable life and career in music as well as the travels that have seen him cycling across the remote Taklamakan Desert in China, teaching double bass in Kabul and playing viola in the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Join him for a discussion of culture, adventure and gender.

This event will be Auslan interpreted.

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Who?

Danger Music, Eddie's second book, was published in September 2017. He is currently writing a children's book which will be published in 2018. Cadence: Travels with Music, published in 2014, was his first book.

Eddie Ayres learnt the viola as a child in England, studying in Berlin and London before playing the viola for eight years with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. As Emma Ayres, she moved from Hong Kong to Australia to present a long-running and extremely popular radio program on ABC Classic FM, while teaching music privately and professionally.